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Good morning! ☀️ *Tim Cook voice*

Apple is increasing prices, 17 upcoming Apple products to expect, massive iMac in the works, iPhone 15 news, and more!

Estimated reading time: 3.9 minutes

📊 Poll

Last week, I asked your favorite iPhone color..

Here were some of my favorite replies:

This week: What iCloud plan do you currently have? More on this below..

🖥️ Biggest iMac Ever

We haven’t had an iMac refresh since early 2021, and now we might know why..

• Apple is in the early stages of developing a new iMac with over a 30-inch display

• This would be the largest iMac size ever

• This is 1-2 years away from release

• The 24” iMac should be updated in early 2024 with the M3 chip

Since the iMac Pro was discontinued in 2021, we haven’t had an all-in-one Mac with anything larger than a 24-inch display. So I can see this 30-inch model filling that niche gap in the market.

How Apple decides to price this big iMac will be interesting because if it costs more than $2,000, I can see many users opting to spend a bit more to get a more powerful M2 Pro Mac Mini and pair it with a Studio Display.

💰 Apple Increasing Prices

Apple has increased the price of iCloud storage by 25% in several regions, including the UK, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America.

Pricing in the United States, Canada, and European Union remains unchanged… for now.

I know I can’t be alone in thinking that just 5GB of free storage is a joke, right?

This is Apple we’re talking about here. We should receive minimum 20GB of cloud storage for free given the amount of photos/videos the average consumer takes & stores in iCloud.

What iCloud plan do you currently have? Vote at the top of this email, because I’m curious.

📲 iPhone 15 & 16 Chip Changes

The iPhone 15 will contain the A17 chip, which will be Apple’s first-ever chip built on a 3nm process. The A14, A15, and A16 chips all used a 5nm fabrication process.

This means that the A17 will provide significantly better performance & battery life.

But.. the A17 Bionic chip that will be used in the iPhone 15 Pro & Pro‌ Max later this year will differ from a version of the same chip coming next year.

What will be different?

• The first iteration of the A17 Bionic chip (for the iPhone 15) will be manufactured using TSMC's N3B process

• But Apple is reportedly planning to switch the A17 chip to N3E in 2024

• This is due to cheaper costs, but could come at the expense of reduced efficiency aka battery life

• This cheaper, less efficient A17 chip will likely be made for the base iPhone 16 & 16 Plus, not the Pro models

So, it seems that Apple is continuing the cycle from last year, where the A15 Bionic chip found in the iPhone 14/14 Plus, is just a higher binned variant with 1 additional GPU core than the A15 chip used in the iPhone 13.

🧐 Do We Really Need a Yearly Refresh?

For iPhones & Macs, yes, a yearly refresh makes sense. But for some products, it just does not seem necessary.

The latest case in point: Apple Watch Ultra.

Bloomberg recently reported that Apple is working on an updated version of the Ultra that could be released later this year.

And as someone who has had the Ultra since day 1, there is zero need for an updated version, yet. I understand this is a completely subjective POV, but this watch is insanely good in every aspect.

Most who wanted to upgrade their Apple Watch, did so after Apple announced this model last year. And a Watch is similar to a Mac, it’s not something you upgrade on a yearly basis unless there is a drastic change (like when Macs went from Intel to M1).

So, for those reasons, I think Apple could just simply be introducing a new color (black). But if it does turn out to be a 2nd generation, it will likely be an “S” type upgrade - where there are only minor performance/battery life improvements.

Am I wrong for feeling this way? Thoughts?

🔮 Apple’s Upcoming 2024 Products

In addition to the 3 upcoming Apple Watch models and the iPhone 15 series, here’s what else is in the pipeline for Apple in 2024 and beyond (according to Bloomberg):

• An M3 13-inch MacBook Pro (codenamed J504)

• M3 Pro and M3 Max 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros (codenamed J514 and J516)

• New iMacs (codenamed J433 and J434) with 24-inch screens, like the current models. The company is also conducting early work on an iMac with a screen over 30 inches

• New MacBook Air models (codenamed J613 and J615)

• Revamped iPad Pros with OLED screens (codenamed J717 and J720)

• A new iPad Air (codenamed J507) to replace the current M1-based model
  

• There are also a few products in early development, including a third-generation version of the AirPods Pro and new home equipment such as smart displays, as well as an Apple TV set-top box with improved specifications

• The next generation of the headsets probably won’t begin arriving until 2025

Exciting times ahead!

📰 Quick News Bites

• Apple's New ‘Beats Studio Pro’ Expected to Launch in July

• Apollo Now Offers Option to Decline Refund Ahead of June 30 Shutdown

• Stardew Valley Coming to Apple Arcade on July 21

• iPhone 14's Emergency SOS via Satellite Feature Saves California Hiker

• Apple retail stores to move their POS systems from iPhone X to iPhone 14’s

• Thief who stole $2 million of Apple gear faces a decade in prison

• Apple Shares Full First Episode of Sci-Fi Show 'Silo' on Twitter

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Until next week, ✌️

- Brandon

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